Water: Distilled vs purified vs everything else

[Firestar72]

Just to add a snippet to John's post-

In the US and Canada it is required by law that water sold as spring water state the source spring (or springs) on the label. Additionally they are to disclose any additives.

Just recently, on a whim I stuck a few samples of various spring waters into a batch of boiler water samples (as we have a pretty extensive chemical analysis done at a lab). The results were rather shocking as better than half of the Big Name US brands tested positive for both chloramine and bromide!

Oh no. I used about two gallon so far of spring water from Walgreens. I hope it will be ok. But just to be on the safe side I am also going to use my bottle of water treatment.

[John]

Oh no. I used about two gallon so far of spring water from Walgreens. I hope it will be ok. But just to be on the safe side I am also going to use my bottle of water treatment.

I'm sure they'll be fine. It's probably just trace amounts.

[Kurt]

Speaking of water John, how are you getting along without it? How has the water ban affected you and more importantly, your frogs?

[John]

I've not been drinking water - I'm on a soda kick for the last few days. The tap water is frog safe. Regarding misting supplies, I have plenty of distilled water.

[Kurt]

Up here in Billerica the water is fine. We are on our very own supply.

[kevinkyang]

umm, would fresh river water do the trick? i live considerably close to the delta and have access to it. its a little murky, but i thought since its a river it must be clean and closest to its natural habitat, no?

[Kurt]

Not necessarily. Any one can dump whatever into a river up-stream. So, basically a river may contain any number of contaminants. Dechlorinated tap is fine and its what I use.

[daggekko]

Wow! Lots of great information here. I have questions to get more details from everyone.

First, I have always done the method of letting tap water sit out for a day or 2 before using it. I have never seen ill effects on adult or juvenile frogs. I had a breeding group of Clown Tree Frogs for quite a while and the few times I got tadpoles I can say that they never survived a water change with my "aged" water. I have raised Red Eye Tree Frog tadpoles with the aged water and had great success. And yes the water spots are always terrible!

Secondly, I have moved to 3 different cities in the past 4 years and have noticed extreme differences in the tap water. I own a group of aquatic Caecilians and noticed that when I lived in an area with hard water they did terrible. Their skin seemed to get more plastic looking than soft and rubbery like normal. (This is something to look out for depending on your water supply) After noticing the change in health I purchased a R/O unit sold in aquarium shops(maybe Coralife) and this made the difference. I've never experimented with adding minerals back into the water though.

For those who do a lot with dart frogs, what is the ideal pH you've used to maintain and breed with?

As far as using products like R/O Right, do you have any recommendations for the proper mixture?

Reverse osmosis water conditioner for freshwater aquariums*Contains a special mixture of dissolvable solids to condition RO water*Provides desirable trace minerals necessary for healthy aquarium inhabitants

A perfect mix of salts and trace elements to balance RO and deionized water, including calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Phosphate- and nitrate-free. Use for both soft and hard water. Powder: For soft water - 1/2 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water. Medium hardness - 2 teaspoons per 10 gallons. Hard water - 3 teaspoons per 10 gallons.
Liquid: 1-5 teaspoons per 5 gallons; depending on the hardness of water.

Here is guidelines I've found for R/O Right, but as far as frogs go, I'm at a loss to decide which way to dose the water.

As for the Holtfreter's Solution, do you use this at 100%?
This is the only formula I've seen listed as 100% Is this correct?
NaCl3.5 gNaHCO30.2 gKCl0.05 gMgSO4 stock solution333 µlCaCl2 stock solution333 µldH201 liter
Check pH; should be between 7 and 7.5.

I know there is probably something else I want to add to this but it is now tomorrow morning and I need to get some sleep before work.

[Roman]

Hi Guys,
Ive been using a britta. I know its reverse osmosis but, is it good for pixies and pacmans?
Thanks John for taking the time to write all that down for us. Im gonna copy/paste it on the pixie site. It came up a few weeks ago and, no one really knew the answer.

[J Teezy]

so John, are you saying that if you use R/O water for say the water bowl in a RETF tank that you need to add stuff to the water? I'm thinking about getting a 4 stage R/O water system because I like to drink alot of water personally and would be cheaper in the long run and better than my little old brita plus R/O water at home would save me from having to buy distilled at the grocrery for my mistking system, but if i use that R/O water in the water dish for the RETF i need to add something to it like R/o-rite?

[sesga]

umm, would fresh river water do the trick? i live considerably close to the delta and have access to it. its a little murky, but i thought since its a river it must be clean and closest to its natural habitat, no?

What about Rain water ,we have plenty of this in Wales ?

[Ted]

There's another source and that's filtered watered,,like with a brita....it filters out chlorine and 96% of the pharmaceuticals found in water...I also let it sit for 3-5 days on top of it...